


Starbound

by Aly_H



Series: Sparks & Spies [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Knights of the Fallen Empire, Knights of the Fallen Empire Spoilers, M/M, More tags later, Shadow of Revan, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-16 18:06:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11258130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aly_H/pseuds/Aly_H
Summary: DISCONTINUATION: This story has been scrapped to write a different Theron/Tusin work but I am waiting until the current in-game story arc is complete to start it.---Tusin Shade - Darth Nox of the Empire's Dark Council - has become entangled in a plot that could destroy the galaxy thanks to the Revanite plot. His willingness to continue helping has almost nothing to do with Lana's new Republic ally...almost.---This will follow my Outlander, Tusin Shade, through the Shadow of Revan into the kotfe and kotet and beyond. Will probably conform to the plot at most points but I know there's a few things that are definitely changing.This story will also feature cameos by my other characters.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO!

_I’ve seen worse_.

He was intelligent, handsome and more difficult to get a read on than most without the tell-tale signs in his presence that made some SIS agents stand out like beacons. Even if he hadn’t proven himself to be extremely interesting when he opted to save a member of the Dark Council from a watery grave Tusin probably would’ve flirted.

_I’m oddly flattered. Not even going to consider it, of course, but flattered_.

He hadn’t sounded flattered – he’d sounded confused, maybe a little alarmed. Unable to tell if the agent’s tension was because of his Imperial allies, his superior’s betrayal or the flirting Tusin had meant to let it drop entirely: Such things were only fun if they were returned.

The teasing comment on his relief at finding his allies alive (and getting Jakarro off his ship) combined with the exhaustion and the slightly heady feeling the medications he was on for the injuries sustained on Rakata Prime had caused another flirty remark to spring to his lips without thought.

That time Theron Shan had seemed a little more receptive, if not less shy then but...

“Oh, you’re looking gloomy, Darth Sparky-Death,” the bright blue twi’lek plopped onto his desk where he translating a stone tablet, or had been attempting to prior to his distractions, before pointing at a symbol, “Isn’t that one ‘treasure’?”

“What? No. It’s ‘secrets’…I think,” he said setting his stylus down to rub at his face. The chrono displayed the time: it’d been three hours since he’d been up and about, no wonder his still-healing ribs were protesting with how he’d been hunched over the desk. He’d only meant to be at the translation for a quarter of that time.

“That means treasure with you Sith anyways,” she grinned, prodding at another artifact on the desk with her finger. “So, how come you look like a bantha ran you over? You didn’t let a bantha run you over _again_ , right?”

“No bantha’s this time. I picked a fight with a rancor.”

Vette winced, even Pyron and Kassie tended to walk away with bruises when they tangled with one of those monsters and the twin Sith Warriors were considerably more skilled at the bludgeoning and death act than their Inquisitor friend was.

Actually, now that she considered it, she wasn’t sure she’d _ever_ seen Tusin in a fight to know if his lack of lightsaber skills were as detrimental as he claimed they were. Also he seemed to be set to survive longer than the other newly installed Dark Council members - even that Arkous guy hadn’t lasted long.

Still that didn’t explain why he’d been staring off into the air rather than actually studying his artifact. He tended to be pretty one-track once he had a new ancient tablet to decipher.

“Okay, so what’s their name?”

“Why would I know the rancor’s name?”

She rolled her eyes. “ _No_ , the one you were trying to impress by killing the rancor.”

He and Vette had been friends since she’d first ended up as one of Kassie’s and Pyron’s crew. They’d been introduced on the shuttle from Korriban to the Imperial fleet. He’d been glad to show his friends the correct way to remove the shock collar and had pulled Vette aside in the hangar when they landed to give her some kolto-infused cream to help with the scarring. It’d not been until later she’d learned why he’d thought to give it to her.

“Who said I was trying to impress anyone with rancor killing? Do I seem like someone who kills rancors to impress people?”

She tried to give him a flat, stern look but started laughing instead. “Okay then, don’t tell, Mister Secret-and-Mysterious. You’ll probably get distracted with your work and neglect them _again_ anyways.”

He made a face, “Ashara and Cytharet are very happy with their new partners. That’s what matters.”

“And you’re not jealous of them at all,” she mused. “Which _means_ you already fell hard for someone else. Or you’d still be all grouchy and sparky and annoying like you were before you got recruited to invade Tython.”

“I am not always grouchy and sparky, you know.”

“You are when you’re single,” Vette dismissed with a wave of her hand, eyes dancing with laughter. “Okay, since you won’t tell me their name: guy or gal?”

After a moment’s debate as to whether he wanted to make the Twi’lek double down on the stubborn or if he should relent: “Guy.”

“So it’s not the pretty blond that everyone claims killed Arkous,” she mused. “Guess that means I owe Pyron.”

“Or you could stop betting on my dating life?”

“Where’s the fun there though?” she grinned. Then looked up as the Sith warrior _she_ was dating poked his head into the office.

“Aftenoon, Tusin,” he greeted. “Vette, you ready to go?”

“Whenever you are, boss,” she grinned, hopping up, walking backwards after the Lord Wrath inform the Darth Nox: “Also, you’re going to tell me a name next time. No escaping telling me everything, Darth Sparky.”

“I hear you, Lady Nosy,” he smiled making a ‘shooing’ motion.

 

The first time he’d spotted the man on the laboratory’s security feed he’d been shocked. Red skinned, gold eyed, of a tall and lean build, dressed in very plain black robes. Not that Lana’s strike team consisting of a Pureblood had been a surprise – it was the man’s identity:

Darth Nox. Youngest of the Dark Council, five or six years Theron’s junior. Half of Theron’s bosses wanted to arrange to have the youngster assassinated. There were fears about what Darth Marr was grooming the young man into given the young sorcerer’s meteoric rise to power.

After Manaan he’d pulled some strings to get a copy of the file the SIS had on him it was far less barren than the one for Lana Beniko, although not quite as varied as those of Jakarro or C2-D4.

It’d been an interesting read: the pureblood had been considered as a potential asset, prior to the Jedi labeling him ‘unredeemable’ following an incident on Taris with the Order, anyways. How did one go from hunted by their own people to the Council?

Not to mention he was hot.

The slight smirk of his lips, the way those gold eyes gleamed with interest, but it was an interest that Nox kept in check, as if believing Theron found it unwelcome after his reaction on Manaan the first time. He’d backed off until exhaustion had distracted him into a misstep.

_If I didn’t know any better, Theron, I’d think you were somewhat infatuated with me_ …

The smirk and playful gleam in his gaze had been attractive – he’d have to be blind not to see that Darth Nox was that – but the way he trailed over the name like it was a delicacy that he had to savor had sent a thrill up his spine. Unsure what to do with the knowledge that he was _definitely_ getting a little hot under the collar for a Dark Lord he opted to deny it enthusiastically and beat a blushing escape.

“I believe he is single,” Lana commented, noticing that Theron had gotten lost in his thoughts while looking over the same data file again.

Theron’s eyes widened, color rising in his cheeks, “What? Why does that matter? I’m not interested in him.”

Lana observed him with amusement. “Of course not. I think I’ve found the data that we’ve been looking for though.”

Theron got up, abandoning his musings on the Dark Lord to see what Lana had found. “Looks like we’re headed to Rishi. How do you want to get in contact with our red friend?”


	2. Chapter 1

“My lord – if I might suggest something?” Talos was doubled over as he panted, the Sith Lord stretched out across the ground a few feet away trying to regain his own breath. “Next time perhaps we should refrain from insulting the angry spirit that our investigations woke?”

The Pureblood held his hand up in the ‘okay’ position, cracking his eyes open to watch as Revel carefully navigated his _Fury_ class vessel in for a landing.

“You still alive down there?” the pirate’s voice came over the coms as they came to life again without the thousand year old Sith sorcery interfering with them. (Tusin was actually a bit impressed, usually his fried out in the electricity storms he called in battle.)

He cracked a grin, “Still not dead. I think Talos is even in one piece too. You in one piece over there?”

“I believe I am,” the archaeologist answered, looking through the recordings of the interior of the now collapsed structure distractedly. “Did you see how that spirit was controlling those creatures? Amazing.”

“Boss – you collapsed the tomb before you got the treasure didn’t you?”

“I wasn’t the one who collapsed it!” Tusin scowled at the ship’s hull (never mind at this distance the pirate inside wouldn’t be able to see the expression). “We know why Doctor Yeta’s research team never reported in now though. I wonder why it chose to take such a violent means to defend itself this time when previously it hadn’t resorted to structural damage…”

He hummed softly to himself – thinking on the question - as he pushed himself to his feet inelegantly and dusted off his grime streaked robes.

The rough, durable fabric held up well when washed but the black fabric also showed every pale dust spot. At least blood was mostly a non-concern when it came to appearance. Red didn’t show up well on the material. He knew as soon as he got back to Dromund Kaas though the robes went from practical to drab and ill-fitting for a man of his rank.

“Any messages?” he called as he and Talos got on board and Andronikos got them into the sky.

“Ashara called, left you a message!”

Tusin eyed the blinking holoterminal with a measure of loathing. Things had been…rough with his supposed apprentice since their romantic entanglement had ended. He understood her anger at him – even he could agree it was deserved, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready for whatever he’d done to get the semi-Jedi riled this time.

Gold eyes lingered on the door to his cabin, considering collapsing into bed and pretending he had never asked but he was curious what the togruta wanted with him and considering that he was why her life had changed so dramatically he certainly owed her his time…

Shrugging off the dust-covered outer robe and tossing it to Toovee to fret over he hit the button to bring the recording up.

Ashara was clearly unhappy, her arms crossed self-consciously over her torso as she shifted her weight.

“Okay, look, I had a vision. I don’t know why I’m bothering to tell _you_ of all people…just…be careful. I saw you on a jungle planet and these vines tore you apart.” She looked back to someone off the holocamera and smiled briefly, though it vanished soon as she was looking back at the camera – “There was also a voice…a woman calling you to Rishi.” Ashara disconnected the call abruptly.

“Rishi.” Andronikos murmured, approaching from behind. “She say Rishi?”

Brows raised over bright yellow eyes. The fact that the few tendril protrusions that Tusin _did_ have were located there gave his expressions an exaggerated quality even without the emphasis that he Sith was putting into the ‘What?’ look.

“Rishi’s been coming up on the navicomputer. Thought it was some kind of glitch. Nothing out there but my kind of people.”

“Not a glitch,” The Sith Lord smirked a little, a message – from someone technologically skilled. Hacking a navicomputer wasn’t the most romantic invitation but he could entertain his hope that that was what it was.

Revel grimaced, “Let me guess: You’re thinking of walking straight into a trap.”

“I might be. Don’t worry, you’re dropping me off then taking Talos back to analyze the artifacts we _did_ recover. I need to know what caused that much destruction because it wasn’t the Force.”

“Boss,” he began only to sigh. “Alright. Rishi then get your artifacts and Drellik to one of your labs.”

“Then bring the ship _back_ to Rishi unless I contact you with instructions otherwise,” Tusin added, stifling a yawn behind his hand. It’d been a long day already, and he suspected that once he landed on mysterious Rishi his days would continue to be so. He needed to get some sleep whilst he could. “I’ll trust you with the navigation.”

 

Revel had suggested different clothes when he’d seen Tusin – warned that it would be hot.

Having dressed in similar robes on Korriban both while fighting and excavating he’d not thought much of it, heat had never been much of a problem for him. And truthfully if it’d just been the heat he probably would’ve been fine.

Instead there was a suffocating, heavy, and sticky damp quality to the air that made everything feel as though it were glued to his skin. Maybe some alternatives to his usual wardrobe _weren’t_ quite as terrible an idea as he’d thought.

Drawing his attention away from his grievances with the weather he scowled a little at the feathered local.

Apparently he had a doppelganger who ran the Howling Tempest Gang in the Gordian Reach, and he could feel the fear of this particular man rise from the chatty local.

It wasn’t the first time he’d had his identity mistaken by criminals but “Woah, that’s not Lucky, he’s _red_!” had been the usual reaction in the past followed by profuse groveling as Tusin sparked threateningly and – if he was in a particularly bad mood – ignited his lightsaber.

“I’m really not a pirate,” he told the sentient, putting on his friendliest, most charming smile he could.

“Nice try,” the animated Rishii told him. “But there’s no mistaking the talk of the town! Seems like everyone in Raider’s Cove is going on about you and all your insane adventures. Talk about tough customers!”

He smiled despite himself, “Mind pointing me to a cantina?” They were usually the best place to catch up on such talk. It’d be interesting to hear what rumors were about – and with so many it was perhaps less mistaken identity and more deliberate.

“Oh, you’ll wanna watch out for Gorro. He wants to fight you so bad it’s not even funny!”

“Oh?” Tusin echoed. “Where can I find this Gorro?”

“Gorro’s at the Blaster’s Path,” the bird pointed in the direction of that establishment. “Local watering hole. Probably washing down some tonitran jerky with some Mantellian fungolager.”

His lips quirked a little at the oddly specific guess.

The Rishii’s tone took a slightly regretful tone as he continued: “I’m not allowed there anymore – _long_ story – so I hope someone holos your big fight. I wouldn’t wanna miss a single, bloody shot!”

“Thanks, though I’ll try to keep him from fighting me.” He gave the native a slight nod and another smile before he headed away on the rickety wooden pathways.

Well they weren’t completely rickety but a lifetime in the perfect Imperial constructions of the Empire’s heart had given him a strong distrust for anything constructed out of organic material. (That or the number of times he’d watched wooden stairs splinter to dust as his explorations of tombs continued could account for that.

The Blaster’s Path Cantina was at least east to find…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to be quicker with the next chapter.
> 
> It's nearly 4 in the morning. I'm posting but probably should edit later.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, firstly - thanks for reading!
> 
> Secondly, let me know if there's any tagging or warnings that need to be done for anything to make your lives as readers easier.
> 
> Thirdly....uh...comments and kudos are adored. I'm the sort of writer that thrives on affirmation so knowing ya'll are out there, reading, helps me write.
> 
> If you'd like to see more of my characters check out the rest of this series. Also you can come say "hi" to me at Aly-the-writer on tumblr!


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